Directories

Contributions of Jewish Women to Music and Women to Jewish Music

M

Ursula Mamlok
American. Born, 1928. composer. Several websites devoted to her music appear online. Music of Ursula Mamlok
C Michael Reese wrote reviews and this biographical sketch: "Ursula Mamlok was born in 1928 in Berlin. Her Jewish family left Germany in 1941 and had to settle for Ecuador as the US quota for German immigrants had been capped. From there she submitted handwritten compositions to American Universities until she received a full scholarship from the Mannes College in New York. She studied with George Szell at Mannes, Roger Sessions (lessons during his weekly visits to New York) and later Vittorio Giannini at the Manhattan School of Music."

Jinny Marsh
The career of vocalist and guitarist Jinny Marsh includes off-Broadway,
summer stock, the New York Cabaret scene, commercials and entertaining
aboard cruise ships. Known as a "lively, fun to watch singer," the Boston
Globe called her "a charismatic singer." Marsh has always loved music but it
wasn't until she began studying Jewish cantorial music that she realized the
joy and profound meaning when singing traditional Yiddish theatre songs. She
began performing with a klezmer band and eventually formed her own called,
Jinny Marsh's Hot Kugel Klezmer Band. Her group consists of the most
talented and experienced musicians in the Washington, D. C. area. Jinny
Marsh's Hot Kugel Klezmer Band has performed on the Kennedy Center's
Millennium Stage and in folk festivals in across the United States at the
National folk festival in East Lansing, Michigan, Lowell, Massachusetts, and
locally at the Smithsonian folk life festival, the Library of Congress and
local community festivals in the DC metropolitan area. Jinny Marsh's Hot
Kugel Band has launched its first CD called Grandma's Recipes- A Klezmer
Celebration. Hot Kugel's second CD is a combination of Klezmer and jazz call
Klezmerika Eklectika and both CD's are available at CDBaby.com. Marsh serves
as cantor for Temple Beth Torah Congregation in Centreville, VA and also
teaches b'nai mitzvah students at congregations Adat Reyim in Springfield,
VA

Ida Ruth (Moskowitz) Meisels
American. Born NYC, nee Moskowitz. Composer. Pianist. Accompanist. Died Feb. 12, 2004 at age 93. Married to a Cantor, Saul Meisels in 1935. Focused on creating accessible music that would be "timeless and well-received by people of all ages." She wrote, arranged or orchestrated more than 400 songs -- many of which have been performed by famous Jewish musicians. Her daughter Florence Nelson told the Miami Herald "She knew that much of what she wrote would be possible for cantors, choirs and children to sing,... She wanted to keep the music of Judaism alive." Ida frequently accompanied her husband and other cantors for recitals and concerts. She discovered her talent for composing later in life, and it became a passion. "Music was her life," Nelson said. "It was her everything." After spending many years in Cleveland, where Saul worked as the cantor of a temple, the couple moved to Miami in 1978. Together they performed at weekend Jewish services and cantorial recitals throughout the Miami area. Saul Meisels died in 1990.

Hephzibah Menuhin
American. Pianist and social worker. Born, May 20, 1920, San Francisco. Also lived in Australia and England. Died, January 1, 1981, London. Concertized widely with her brother, Yehudi Menuhin in her youth, and again in her later years. Had her first recital debut at 8 years old in 1928. Studied with Rudolf Serkin in Basel. Recordings won classical music prizes. Won Prix du Disque at age 12. Moved to Australia in the 1940s. She also worked tirelessly for deprived persons and families and also was an activist for peace and disarmament causes. President, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1977.

Yaltah Menhuin
Another sister of the Menhuin family, a pianist who died at age 81
She was born Oct. 2, 1921 in San Francisco. Married to Benjamin Lionel Wolfe Oct. 1941 Divorced in 1960 and married Joel Taylor Rice in June 1960. She died June 9, 2001 at Canfield Gardens, London, England.

Ottilie Metzger-Lattermann (1878-1943?)
Ottilie was an outstanding contralto and sang with Caruso (in
Carmen and Aida). She sang in all the major opera houses of the
day. Ottilie Metzger (she added the name of her second
husband to her name) was particularly admired in Wagner parts,
and sang several times at Bayreuth. At least one of her
appearances in New York before the first world war was
reviewed in the NYT. In 1934 Ottilie fled Germany and lived in Brussels. She was rounded up in 1942 and deported. Died in Auschwitz, probably in 1943.

Ella Milch-Sheriff
Nee Ella Milch. Born 1954 In Haifa, Israel. Composer. Singer, pianist. Milch-Sheriff started as a child prodigy, writing her first compositions by the age of 12. While serving in the Israeli army, she continued to write and sing her songs. After army service, she returned to studies in composition under Prof. Tzvi Avni at the Rubin Academy of Music at the Tel-Aviv University where she graudated in composition. She studied vocal studies with Prof. Tamar Rachum and Dafna Cohen-Licht. Her output consists of opera, orchestral, chamber and vocal and popular music. Her works have had numerous performances in Israel and abroad. She is composer of chamber works such as: Duo for flute & Cello (1976) with recent pieces that include "A Crown they shall give unto You" for voice and orchestra based on Ladino-Flamenco folk music (premiered January 2005); "Woman in Paths" for voice and piano (premiered 2005); and "Good Night, Sweet ladies" for 3 singers, actress and orchestra (premiered 2004). Her piece "Poem" for voice and chamber ensemble represented Israel at the ISCM festival in Germany and had numerous performances in Israel and Europe. Her composition "Variations on an Israeli song" was premiered by the Israel Chamber Orchestra and then was played by many other chamber orchestras. Her piece for children's choir, "A China Ballade" (to poem by Lea Goldberg) sung by the Choir of Ashkelon Art School, won the first prize in an international competition. In March 2003, her piece "Can Heaven be Void for Singer, Narrator, and Orchestra" was premiered in Israel and won an unprecedented acclaim from critics. The piece is based on texts from a diary written by the composer's father during the Holocaust...Maariv, an Israeli newspaper, wrote of it (March 30, 2003), "Similar as in Schönberg's work "The Survivor of Warsaw", Mrs. Sheriff also immortalizes the horrors and the pain with a hand of a master,....The music is written with great sincerity and clarity. It conjures up spiritual sounds, and, as in Schubert's songs, it is supportive of the background, the essence and the interpretation." Yediot Acharonot, another paper, included a review (30/3/03) that said: "The music is built upon fragments of the terrible Holocaust memoirs of Dr. Baruch Milch, the father of the composer. Its impact derives from its simplicity, from its asceticism. Mrs. Sheriff does not whine nor does she scream out. Quite to the contrary. That is why it is so powerful." The Ha'aretz reviewer stated (26/3/03) "Regarding the cantata itself, its impact is way beyond all expectations." Mrs. Milch-Sheriff gave a Kurt Weill recital on the Weill 100th birthday at the Israel festival in Jerusalem, which brought invitations from Germany and Austria. She has held principal roles in chamber operas, including new Israeli works, and a role as the Medium in the opera of the same name by Menotti. In the last few years she appeared in recitals in Germany, Switzerland and Israel with programs which includes works by great composers from Mahler to Bernstein as well as songs composed to the poets Paul Celan, Else Lasker-Schuler and Heinrich Heine. She is married to the composer Noam Sheriff who has composed a number of works especially for her. She sang the Paul Celan song cycle at the Dartington International summer school festival. A CD which was recently released on the 'col legno' label and conducted by Noam Sheriff with the Duesseldorf Symphony Orchestra, includes the Paul Celan song cycle sung by Ella.http://www.ellasheriff.com/ella/default.asp

Cindy Michelassi
Jewish song leader. American. Works in Chicago’s western suburbs, providing the music for Shabbat services, Family services, Tot Shabbat, Holiday services and programs, camps and retreats. Cindy is a graduate of the 1995 Synagogue Leadership Institute and the 1995 Rabbinic Aid program, both sponsored by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She is a 10 year veteran of Hava Nashira, the annual Song Leading and Music Conference held at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. http://home.xnet.com/~rtm/

Chana Mlotek(Eleanor Gordon Mlotek)
Song collector, author, ethnomusicologist and librarian. Works at the YIVO Institute in New York and is the author of several important collections of Yiddish music, (the last two of them with her husband Joseph Mlotek), including: Mir Trogn a Gezang-- The New Book of Yiddish Songs (1972), Perl fun Yidishn lid-- Pearls of Yiddish Song (1988), Lider fun dor tsu dor:naye perl fun Yidishn Lid--Songs of Generations: New Pearls of Yiddish Songs (1990). Many of her papers are held by YIVO.

Bella Mysell
American. Born April 5, 1901. Died Jan. 17, 1991 in Chevy Chase, MD. Lyricist in the Yiddish theater. Wrote "My Son and I" that opened in 1960, a "musical play in English and Yiddish with book by Herman Yablokoff, music by Sholom Secunda and lyrics by Bella Mysell." (NYTimes, Oct. 16, 1960). Special thanks to Victor Berch, retired Brandeis University Special Collections Librarian for research on this entry.